


Left of Perfect

by virgotrocious



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coffee date, First Meeting, M/M, let my boys by happy, pattons a sweetheart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 12:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14769743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgotrocious/pseuds/virgotrocious
Summary: Virgil, Logan, and one left handed desk.





	Left of Perfect

Virgil’s backpack was heavy on his shoulders, the one strap slipping down every few steps or so from how he slouched. First day of the new school year; first day of a new classroom. The large headphones over Virgil’s ears has broken days ago, but he hadn’t been able to find time to replace them in the hassle of moving into his new apartment just off campus. The walk took longer than he had expected, and left him without time to get coffee.

Not his best first day.

Still though, Virgil arrived ten minutes early, the prospect of walking into class late and having all eyes on him enough to make his heartbeat pick up pace. His teacher had yet to arrive, fairly typical of his college, and he scanned the classroom, looking away from the aggressively large “PSYCH 101” printed messily on the front board. He turned towards the desks instead, weaving through a few other early students and aisles before he found it.

Each classroom was supplied with one left handed desk, and considering his tendencies to arrive early, Virgil luckily got to grab it before anyone else a majority of the time.

A sigh, heavy on his tongue, escaped his lips as Virgil slid his backpack onto the desk’s surface. As he did so, a black binder with a shoulder strap— the kind middle schoolers wear— landed next to it. Immediately, Virgil’s eyes shot up from where the had been pointed down to glare at the dork trying to take his seat.

What Virgil didn’t expect, was a guy nearly half a foot taller than him to be towering above, a second guy closer to his own height trailing shortly behind.

“Apologies,” the tall one said, adjusting his tie. Virgil rolled his eyes at his choice of dress and slipped the headphones off his ears. “I was going to sit here.”

“Yeah well so was I.”

The two stood silently for a few seconds, and Virgil trained his eyes on the guy’s forehead, hoping to make him uncomfortable by clearly avoiding his eyes. It had worked before.

“Well, what do you propose?” the guy asked, voice cool and steady like an advanced robot. His friend looked up towards the tall one and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. Virgil continued to evade eyes.

“Logan, that’s not very polite. He was here first.”

The tall one, Logan, continued to stare blankly for a moment or two. Virgil wondered vaguely if there was code running through his head trying to calculate the outcome of each decision.

“If you two won’t decide on your own,” the friend said, voice organic and upbeat compared to Logan. “Then how about a quick game of rock, paper, scissors!”

“...Pass,” Virgil said tiredly, turning away and deciding it wasn’t worth any more time. He grabbed his bag and moved a few aisles over, just barely hearing the friend call Logan a doofus. Hearing such an old word be brought back so naturally almost made the encounter worth it.

                                         ————————————

Virgil was truly hoping no homework would be assigned that night, considering it was the first day. For a moment, it seemed as if the gods were on his side, as the teacher began packing up with no mention of additional busy work. Then, the inevitable problem; he dropped his pen.

It wasn’t Virgil’s favorite pen, and he considered for a moment to just leave it on the ground. Deciding in the end he liked the way it wrote well enough to make the effort, Virgil leant down to pick it up. The pen wasn’t the problem, rather an amoral middleman that lead to his inevitable demise.

When he retrieved the ink filled bastard and set himself upright again, Logan’s friend had suddenly appeared next to him. Virgil went rigid to keep himself from jumping, but it had roughly the same effect as the friend seemed momentarily concerned.

“Sorry kiddo, didn’t mean to scare you.”

He nodded.

“I just wanted to apologize for how rude my buddy Logan was to you.”

“I wasn’t rude. He opted out.”

Virgil didn’t have time to go rigid, because that time his body reacted before his mind and almost sent him off his chair.

“Patton, I think we just made him more distressed than if we had simply left without saying anything.”

Patton waved his hand dismissively, happy smile spreading across his face.

“Anywho, I’m Patton and this is Logan!”

Virgil bit back the ‘I know’ rising in his throat and opted instead to mutter a weak, “Virgil.”

“It’s great to meet you Virgil! I’ve gotta run, but I’ll see you later!”

Patton did a speed walk-jog out of the room, leaving Logan standing alone next to Virgil. Perhaps the wire connecting the motor to his legs was severed.

“Would you like to grab a coffee?”

Virgil narrowed his eyes as if he would be able to spot the ulterior motive if he looked hard enough.

“Why?”

“I want coffee, I assume you wouldn’t be opposed to one as well. I’m paying, think of it as me making things even.”

Never one to refuse free things, Virgil threw caution to the wind and nodded stiffly; he quickly shoved everything into his backpack and stood, again having the height difference shoved in his face.

Logan turned and began walking without a word, leaving Virgil to play catch up.

“What coffee shop are we going to anyways?” he asked, voice sharp as always. Logan seemed unfazed.

“I was thinking the café on 5th. Cheaper than Starbucks, but about the same quality.” He cast a glance down at Virgil. “Is that satisfactory?”

Surprised by Logan looking for a stamp of approval, Virgil blinked hard.

“Yeah, that sounds fine.” He said, trying to soften his voice’s edge as he was about to get a free coffee and might as well not be a dick about it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he took note that every 30 seconds or so Logan was turning his head to look down at him. A broken servo motor maybe? They arrived at the café within a few minutes. Logan slowed and let Virgil take the lead, assumably allowing him to choose the table, which he was insanely grateful for. They sat in the far back, and almost immediately a peppy waitress was at their side.

Virgil felt his throat tighten as Logan fed his order to the young lady seamlessly, the reality of having to place his drink without a flushed out script prepared in the head daunting.

“And what would you like, sir?”

Virgil jolted a little bit, shoving himself out of his head and into the real world.

“Uh…” his nails bit the palm of his hand as he dug unsuccessfully for an answer to the simple question.

“He’ll have a black tie coffee,” Logan swooped in, saving him.

The waitress nodded happily, scribbled the drink order down, and walking back to the counter. Virgil looked gratefully at his classmate.

“Thanks. What’s a black tie?”

“It’s a fairly standard cold brew coffee with cream. It’s very popular, so the likelihood of you liking it seems high. If you don’t like it though, feel free to try mine instead.”

“Oh… thank you.”

“No problem.

The café’s atmosphere was nice, warm in a welcoming way that Virgil appreciated greatly. Outside, the sound of starting rain thumped lightly against the large front window and made him thankful  When the waitress set down their drinks, he would have thanked her had it not been for the little monster in his throat holding down his tongue.

Logan thanked her in his place.

The black tie looked fancy, just as the name would suggest. Logan picked up his coffee first and lifted it to his lips. Virgil watching with an unintentional intensity, humoring himself briefly with the mental image of Logan taking a sip and short-circuiting. Following in his classmate’s footsteps, he grabbed the tall cup and took a slow drink.

“How is it?” Logan asked, intertwining his fingers and resting his chin on them. WIth a single eyebrow raised and eyes half closed, Virgil found himself in danger of overheating.

“Huh?”  
“The coffee. How does it taste?”

“Oh! Uh,” he glanced quickly down to his drink and then back to Logan, having to avoid his eyes. “It’s good. I’m… thanks.”

Logan smiled, and suddenly the raindrops outside sounded less appeasing and more like the drums that sound ahead of an execution. Virgil gulped deeply, struggling to do so thanks to the tightness in his throat.

“So. Virgil.”

Hearing his name on someone else’s tongue felt foreign and sent discomfort down his spine. He decided it wasn’t so bad.

“Patton and I were planning on seeing a movie tomorrow night. Would you care to join us?”

Admittedly the assured confidence Logan possessed pissed Virgil off, but he found himself agreeing despite himself. After that, Logan’s tone was a little sweeter, voice just slightly softer. It was nice, calming even, and Virgil felt the suspicion lingering in his brain diminish.

Conversation carried lightly from that point on, words not running too deep and appearing through lapses of silence. In the end Logan called the waitress over, thanked her, paid her, and stood. Virgil followed suit quickly, stumbling to gather his backpack before rising as well. Logan held the door for him and smiled when he was thanked. It was still raining.

“I live very close to here.”

Virgil tensed, eyes darting up quickly to search for malintent. Logan, apparently suddenly aware of the connotations his words held, flushed red. It was almost a relief, the proof of human blood flowing through his veins. Virgil thought very fleetingly of fluid transfer pump in a dry attempt to humor himself.

“Please don’t misunderstand,” Logan said hurriedly, like he was correcting himself. He tried hard to make eye contact with Virgil, who kept averting his eyes. “I only meant that I could give you a ride once we retrieved my car. Promise.”

Virgil’s shoulders slumped with his exhale of relief, forcing him to readjust his backpack strap.

“Then sure. I’d like a ride— ”

Logan seemed to even out, and it kept him from tacking on his customary ‘if it’s not too much trouble.’

The two again walked in silence, rain tapping the tops of their heads lightly.

Virgil waited just outside Logan’s apartment as he retrieved the keys in order to avoid feeling uncomfortable, which the tall man understood perfectly. The car ride, just as silent, went smoothly. Logan didn’t drive too fast, didn’t pass through a single yellow light, and took turns slowly. He had an itching feeling from how Logan’s eyes squinted around each bend that this wasn’t normal driving behavior, and he was thankful for the calculated caution.

They pulled up to Virgil’s apartment without injury. Just as he climbed out, mouth already open to mumble a timid ‘thank you’, Logan stretched his arm out and slipped a piece of paper into Virgil’s hand.

“Thank you Virgil, this had been fun. Contact me anytime.” The half smile on Logan’s face was so warm it turned the water on Virgil to steam.

As he drove away, Virgil watched streaks of raindrops form lines on the street where the car had been like a delicate tracery; inevitable, the way water gathered together like so many creeks into so many rivers. He stared at the piece of paper in his hands and felt his chest constrict at the typeface style numbers, smeared in that special left-handed way.

While retreating back to his home, Virgil’s backpack was light on his shoulders, the one strap staying up all on its own. For once he was glad to have not fought for a desk.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated!


End file.
